A devotional for our Come Away virtual quiet day on October 17th. Click here for more information.
In Mark 6:31-32, Jesus takes initiative to tell the disciples to rest. It reminds me of how my children need the voice of their mother telling them to rest, and it reminds me of how I need a voice of authority telling me to rest. Nothing else in my world tells me to stop; nothing sets boundaries for me; nothing says, “Enough”.
Jesus’ command to the disciples in Mark 6 to rest comes on the heels of his sending them out to cast out demons and heal the sick. He had given them work to do. This reminds me of the post communion prayer: “Now send us out to do the work you have given us to do, to love and serve you as faithful witnesses of Christ our Lord.” God has given us work to do. But the example we see in Mark 6 is Jesus teaching the disciples a rhythm of work and rest. When we receive the work God has given us to do, do we also receive rest? In other words, are we doing the work God has given us to do how God wants us to do it?
Sometimes we hear the work God has for us, but totally miss the how. Too often we press into work anxiously and self focused, convinced that the results of the work depend entirely on us. “Consider the lilies of the field,” Jesus says in Matthew 6, “they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.” If we approach our work without putting the results of it in God’s hands, we will never exhale and feel the freedom to stop and rest. Thus a step into rest becomes a step into trusting God with the outcomes of our work.
This is more easily said than done. In Mark 6, even the disciples’ best efforts to get away were met by needy crowds. But, let us strive to enter the rest (Hebrews 4:11) that Christ desires for us, and not be hindered by our lack of trust in the Rest Giver. Let us remember that the Work Give is the Rest Giver. His call to work includes a call to rest. As you prayerfully consider the work God has given you to do, listen for how He wants you to do it, and ask Him for a more trusting and willing heart to partake in the rhythm of work and rest He is calling you to.
